CRUISE SHIP THEATRES
CURVED SCREENS
ON CELEBRITY EDGE
One of Wilson Butler Architects’ most recent projects
is Celebrity Edge, for which it was asked to create an
“immersive” theatre moving away from the traditional
proscenium. Edge’s theatre has a central stage and
several adjacent stages that work in tandem with curved
projection screens. The space also includes a pit lift that
is 4m (13ft) wide, a centre lift with two turntables that rises
2m (7ft) above the stage, and two rectangular outboard
lifts behind the projection screens that rise 3m (10ft) to
connect with rotating spiral stairs.
There are also four flying winches in the fly loft,
controlled by Tait Towers’ Navigator control system, as
well as a rain curtain and trampoline. At the heart of all
of it are 10 motion-controlled sliding projection screens
that work with 18 Panasonic PT-RZ21K projectors with
21,000 ANSI lumens and 1,920 x 1,200 (WUXGA) resolution.
38 AUDITORIA 2020 VOLUME ONE
or oors, as the ship is sealed into watertight/
reproof compartments.”
ere is regular dialogue with organisations
such as MCA, SOLAS and USPH. “ ey inspect
the designs regularly and can stop a ship from
sailing if they have concerns,” says Harvey.
Powerful forces
Schuch notes how the movement expected on
ships has impacted technical requirements for
Waagner-Biro Stage Systems’ stage equipment.
“ e pitch and roll of the vessel about its
longitudinal axis provide additional vertical and
horizontal accelerations on all installed masses,”
she says. “ ese have to be taken into account,
in particular with mobile equipment. Lloyds
Register and DNV-GL calculate worst-case
loads for bad weather. Roughly, we’re speaking
of acceleration tolerances of around ±6m/s2
vertically and ±4m/s2 horizontally.”
consoles to pianos, has to be xed securely so
it won’t become loose when the ship moves.”
e design has to be veri ed early on because
moving things later on can be challenging.
“ e construction has to be adapted during
design to facilitate these securing points
and the forces that may be excerpted,” says
Harvey. “ ere is an established standard
for everything from cables to paint.”
Other important regulations concern
the categorisation of spaces and what can be
placed where. “Ampli ers and back-of-house
electrical equipment is located in special steel
rooms along with dedicated cooling units, safety
systems and access routes,” explains Harvey.
“It would be easy for these spaces to quickly form
a maze, so we work hard in the design phase to
ensure the layout is functional and logical. It is
also very di cult to add cables a er the design
is frozen or indeed to penetrate walls, ceilings
Norwegian Cruise Line
Opposite page, top and
bottom: A Waagner-Biro Stage
Systems solution controls LED
panels in Quantum of the
Seas’ Two70 theatre
Robert Benson